ABSTRACT
It is a common practice in Nigeria and other West Africa
Countries especially in area lying within the rainforest belt, with thick
vegetation cover, the aim of management should be to avoid excessive and
inadequate level of farming system and maintains sufficient for planting of
cocoyam. The study therefore seeks to examine and appraise the problems and
prospects of cocoyam production in our society, a case study of Ovia North East
Local Government Area.
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER ONE
Background of the study
Statement of the problem
Research questions
Purpose of the study
Significance of the study
Scope of the study
Limitation of the study
Definition of terms
CHAPTER TWO
Historical Literature review
CHAPTER THREE
Research methodology
Research design
Population of the study
Research instrument
Data collection
Statistical techniques
CHAPTER FOUR
Data presentation and interpretation of result
CHAPTER FIVE
Summary, conclusion and recommendation
REFERENCES
QUESTIONNAIRE
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO
THE STUDY
Cocoyam (colocasia spp and xanthosoma spp) is grown in the
tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world particularly in Africa for human
nutrition, animal feed, and cash income for both farmers and traders (Onwueme
and Chales, 1994). Cocoyam is vegetative propagated using the corms and to a
lesser extent the cormels. As food for human consumption, the nutritional value
parts of cocoyam is primarily caloric (Davis et al, 1992). The underground
cormels provides easily digested starch; and the leaves are nutritious spinach
like vegetable, which give a lot of minerals, vitamins and thiamine (Tambong et
al, 1997).
There are two major types commonly grown in Nigeria namely;
colocasia spp and xanthosma spp. In Nigeria, it is regarded as a major crop
especially in X2 female headed household. Nigeria is one of the largest
producers of cocoyam in the world contributing about 40% of total annual
production okinpshectares of land out of the total arable land of 27,900.00
hectares under cocoyam production.
Cocoyam grows in association with other food and tree crops
a system mostly practiced by subsistence farmers in Nigeria. The bulk of the
production of cocoyam is in South East, Nigeria (Enyinnia, 2001). Cocoyam is regarded as a major food crop in Nigeria
especially in female headed households. Nwabuzor (2001) noted that cocoyam can
be consumed in various forms when boiled, fried, pounded or roasted. It can
also be processed into chips (“achicha”) which has a long shelf and provides
food all year round especially during lean planting season (Asadu, 2006).
Cocoyam leaves are also used as vegetable for preparing soup in various part of
the world. There is a decline in the yields of cocoyam on the past few years.
As population pressure on land continues to increases, the importance of
cocoyam in ensuring household food security is given adequate recognition even
through the present yield are still below expectation. This could be attributed
to a lot of factors such as climate variation, drought, poor cultural practices
among cocoyam growers, pest and diseases infestation (Ezenwu, 2010).
Despite the usefulness of cocoyam corms and leaves in human
nutrition, its production and processing in Nigeria is faced with a lot of
challenges. Some of these challenges are the alarming rate of land degradation
and lack of improved varieties for commercial cocoyam and leaf production.
Decreasing rainfall and poor soil have also been identified as some of the
challenges processing of cocoyam in Nigeria (Osagoe, 2006). Therefore, this
study was carried out with the broad objective of ascertaining strategies for
improving cocoyam production and processing among women farmers in Edo State,
Nigeria.
1.2 STATEMENT OF
PROBLEM
In any human endeavour, there are bound to be some obstacle
or hindrance in any of achieving exception to this general rule. Hence this
research is designed to find out the problem and prospects of cocoyam
production in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State.
1.3 PURPOSE OF THE
STUDY
The main aim of the study is to examine and appraise the
problem and prospects of cocoyam production in our society, a case study of
Ovia North East Local Government Area.
To know the number of farmer producing cocoyam in the local
government area.
To know the type of production system.
Identifying problem of cocoyam production
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF
THE STUDY
It is a common practice in Nigeria and other West Africa
countries especially in area lying within the rainforest belt with thick
vegetation cover, the aim of management should be avoid excessive and
inadequate level of farming system and maintains enough stock raw materials in
period of short supply and anticipate price changes.
1.5 RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
This study is centred on planning of cocoyam in our local
government council (Ovia North East) with more emphasis on cocoyam production.
Survey is a broad discipline that cannot be treated in full in this study. The
researcher while trying to obtain information from respondents encountered
certain drawback which hindered on farming system.
This investigation had a very limited for the study and they
only limited time for the study and they only limited the work.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE
STUDY
This study is centered on planting of cocoyam in our local
government council (Ovia North East) with more emphasis on cocoyam production.
Survey is a broad discipline that cannot be treated in full in this study. The
researcher while trying to obtain information from respondents encountered
certain drawback which hindered on farming system.
1.8 DEFINITION OF
TERMS
Cocoyam: Cocoyam are herbaceous perennial plants belonging
to the family araceae and are grown primarily of their edible roots, although
all parts of the plant are edible. Cocoyam that are cultivated as food crops
belong to either the genus colocasia or the genus xanthosoma and are generally
comprised of a large spherical corm (swollen underground storage stem), from
which a few large leaves emerge.
Problem: A problem is a road block in a situation, something
that sets up a conflict and forces you to find a resolution.
Prospect: A prospect is the possibility that something
fabulous will happen. After you graduate top of your class at Harvard, for example,
your job prospects look great.
Production: The process of making or growing something for
scale or use.